Lord Kelvin's Keith medal in the Hunterian Museum, Glasgow

The Keith Medal was a

prize A prize is an award to be given to a person or a group of people (such as sporting teams and organizations) to recognize and reward their actions and achievements.

Royal Society of Edinburgh The Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. It is a registered charity that operates on a wholly independent and non-partisan basis and provides public benefit throughout Scotland. It was established i ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

national academy A national academy is an organizational body, usually operating with state financial support and approval, that co-ordinates scholarly research activities and standards for academic disciplines, most frequently in the sciences but also the humanit ...

, for a

scientific paper : ''For a broader class of literature, see Academic publishing.'' Scientific literature comprises scholarly publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and social sciences. Within an academic field, scienti ...

published in the society's

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...

s, preference being given to a paper containing a discovery, either in

mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

s. The Medal was inaugurated in 1827 as a result of a gift from

Alexander Keith of Dunnottar Sir Alexander Keith of Dunnottar and Ravelston (1736–1819) was an 18th and 19th century Scottish landowner, lawyer and reformer. A co-founder of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, its Keith Medal is named in his honour. Life He was born o ...

, the first Treasurer of the Society. It was awarded quadrennially, alternately for a paper published in: Proceedings A (Mathematics) or Transactions (Earth and Environmental Sciences). The medal bears the head of

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston (; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. His Latinized name was Ioann ...

of Merchiston. The medal is no longer awarded.

Recipients of the Keith Gold Medal

Source (1827 to 1913)
Proceedings of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
;19th century *1827–29:

David Brewster Sir David Brewster KH PRSE FRS FSA Scot FSSA MICE (11 December 178110 February 1868) was a British scientist, inventor, author, and academic administrator. In science he is principally remembered for his experimental work in physical optics ...

, ''on his Discovery of Two New Immiscible Fluids in the Cavities of certain Minerals'' *1829–31:

, ''on a New Analysis of Solar Light'' *1831–33: Thomas Graham, ''on the Law of the Diffusion of Gases'' *1833–35:

James David Forbes James David Forbes (1809–1868) was a Scottish physicist and glaciologist who worked extensively on the conduction of heat and seismology. Forbes was a resident of Edinburgh for most of his life, educated at its University and a professor ...

, ''on the Refraction and Polarization of Heat'' *1835–37:

John Scott Russell John Scott Russell FRSE FRS FRSA (9 May 1808, Parkhead, Glasgow – 8 June 1882, Ventnor, Isle of Wight) was a Scottish civil engineer, naval architect and shipbuilder who built '' Great Eastern'' in collaboration with Isambard Kingdom Brune ...

, ''on Hydrodynamics'' *1837–39: John Shaw, ''on the Development and Growth of the Salmon'' *1839–41: ''Not awarded'' *1841–43:

, ''on Glaciers'' *1843–45: ''Not awarded'' *1845–47: Sir

Thomas Brisbane Major General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet, (23 July 1773 – 27 January 1860), was a British Army officer, administrator, and astronomer. Upon the recommendation of the Duke of Wellington, with whom he had served, he was appoint ...

, ''for the Makerstoun Observations on Magnetic Phenomena'' *1847–49: ''Not awarded'' *1849–51:

Philip Kelland Philip Kelland PRSE FRS (17 October 1808 – 8 May 1879) was an English mathematician. He was known mainly for his great influence on the development of education in Scotland. Life Kelland was born in 1808 the son of Philip Kelland (d.1847), ...

, ''on General Differentiation, including his more recent Communication on a process of the Differential Calculus, and its application to the solution of certain Differential Equations'' *1851–53:

William John Macquorn Rankine William John Macquorn Rankine (; 5 July 1820 – 24 December 1872) was a Scottish mechanical engineer who also contributed to civil engineering, physics and mathematics. He was a founding contributor, with Rudolf Clausius and William Thomson ( ...

, ''on the Mechanical Action of Heat'' *1853–55: Thomas Anderson, ''on the Crystalline Constituents of Opium, and on the Products of the Destructive Distillation of Animal Substances'' *1855–57:

George Boole George Boole (; 2 November 1815 – 8 December 1864) was a largely self-taught English mathematician, philosopher, and logician, most of whose short career was spent as the first professor of mathematics at Queen's College, Cork in Ire ...

, ''on the Application of the Theory of Probabilities to Questions of the Combination of Testimonies and Judgments'' *1857–59: ''Not awarded'' *1859–61: John Allan Broun, ''on the Horizontal Force of the Earth’s Magnetism, on the Correction of the Bifilar Magnetometer, and on Terrestrial Magnetism generally'' *1861–63: William Thomson, ''on some Kinematical and Dynamical Theorems'' *1863–65:

, ''for Experimental Inquiry into the Laws of Conduction of Heat in Iron Bars'' *1865–67:

Charles Piazzi Smyth Charles Piazzi Smyth (3 January 1819 – 21 February 1900) was an Italian-born British astronomer who was Astronomer Royal for Scotland from 1846 to 1888; he is known for many innovations in astronomy and, along with his wife Jessica Duncan P ...

, ''on Recent Measures at the Great Pyramid'' *1867–69:

Peter Guthrie Tait Peter Guthrie Tait FRSE (28 April 1831 – 4 July 1901) was a Scottish mathematical physicist and early pioneer in thermodynamics. He is best known for the mathematical physics textbook '' Treatise on Natural Philosophy'', which he co-wrote wi ...

, ''on the Rotation of a Rigid Body about a Fixed Point'' *1869–71:

James Clerk Maxwell James Clerk Maxwell (13 June 1831 – 5 November 1879) was a Scottish mathematician and scientist responsible for the classical theory of electromagnetic radiation, which was the first theory to describe electricity, magnetism and ligh ...

, ''on Figures, Frames, and Diagrams of Forces'' *1871–73:

, ''First Approximation to a Thermo-electric Diagram'' *1873–75:

Alexander Crum Brown Alexander Crum Brown FRSE FRS (26 March 1838 – 28 October 1922) was a Scottish organic chemist. Alexander Crum Brown Road in Edinburgh's King's Buildings complex is named after him. Early life and education Crum Brown was born at 4 Belle ...

, ''on the Sense of Rotation, and on the Anatomical Relations of the Semicircular Canals of the Internal Ear'' *1875–77:

Matthew Forster Heddle Matthew Forster Heddle FRSE (28 April 1828 – 19 November 1897) was a Scottish physician and amateur mineralogist active through the 19th century. Life He was born at Melsetter in Orkney, the son of Robert Heddle (1780–1842) and his wif ...

, ''on the Rhombohedral Carbonates'' and ''on the Felspars of Scotland'' *1877–79: Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, ''on the Application of Graphic Methods to the Determination of the Efficiency of Machinery'' *1879–81:

George Chrystal George Chrystal FRSE FRS (8 March 1851 – 3 November 1911) was a Scottish mathematician. He is primarily know for his books on algebra and his studies of seiches (wave patterns in large inland bodies of water) which earned him a Gold Meda ...

, ''on the Differential Telephone'' *1881–83: Sir Thomas Muir, ''Researches into the Theory of Determinants and Continued Fractions'' *1883–85: John Aitken, ''on the Formation of Small Clear Spaces in Dusty Air'' *1885–87:

John Young Buchanan John Young Buchanan FRSE FRS FCS (20 February 1844 – 16 October 1925) was a Scottish chemist, oceanographer and Arctic explorer. He was an important part of the Challenger Expedition. Life He was born in Partickhill, Glasgow on 20 February ...

, ''for a series of communications, extending over several years, on subjects connected with Ocean Circulation, Compressibility of Glass, etc.'' *1887–89:

Edmund Albert Letts Professor Edmund Albert Letts FRSE FCS FIC (27 August 1852 – 19 February 1918) was a 19th-century English chemist. He was a pioneer of analytical chemistry. The Letts Nitrile Synthesis is named after him. He spent much time analysing the content ...

, ''for his papers on the Organic Compounds of Phosphorus'' *1889–91: Robert Traill Omond, ''for his contributions to Meteorological Science'' *1891–93: Sir

Thomas Richard Fraser Sir Thomas Richard Fraser (5 February 1841 – 4 January 1920) was a British physician and pharmacologist. Together with Alexander Crum Brown he discovered the relationship between physiological activity and chemical constitution of the body. ...

, ''for his papers on Strophanthus hispidus, Strophanthin, and Strophanthidin'' *1893–95:

Cargill Gilston Knott Cargill Gilston Knott FRS, FRSE LLD (30 June 1856 – 26 October 1922) was a Scottish physicist and mathematician who was a pioneer in seismological research. He spent his early career in Japan. He later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, ...

, ''for his papers on the Strains produced by Magnetism in Iron and in Nickel'' *1895–97: Sir Thomas Muir, ''for his continued communications on Determinants and Allied Questions'' *1897–99: James Burgess, ''on the Definite Integral ...'' ;20th/21st century

References

External links

Awards of Keith Prize 1827-1890
{{Royal Society of Edinburgh British science and technology awards Mathematics awards Royal Society of Edinburgh Scottish awards 1827 establishments in Scotland Awards established in 1827

Recipients of the Keith Gold Medal

See also

References

External links